Overview
- New York Magazine confirmed an internal review of columnist Ross Barkan’s past work after journalists alleged he reused language from other outlets without clear attribution.
- Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell said Barkan copied his story’s opening paragraphs, and the magazine updated Barkan’s piece to credit and directly quote the Post with an editor’s note.
- NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn said an AI check of Barkan’s columns surfaced additional verbatim or near-verbatim lines resembling reporting in The Intercept, Compact, and Gothamist.
- Compact editor Matthew Schmitz and writer Juan David Rojas accused Barkan of lifting their phrasing, arguing that a hyperlink does not replace quotation marks or explicit credit for copied text.
- Barkan denied plagiarizing, said he cited sources and linked as appropriate, pointed to his large body of published work, and called the controversy over a few examples exaggerated.